[Zamiel_Snawley]

That is exactly why he cut them off. They aren’t contractually obligated to pay. The only “contract” is the implied social contract of building your company on open source.

If they want to play hardball about what’s required instead of acting generously, like Matt has done for decades, then they are getting their just deserts.

Matt isn’t obligated to be nice to dick heads. WordPress.org isn’t obligated to provide service for free.

WP Engine decided that they would only do what’s good for them. Fine. If they piss in the pool, they can’t be mad when everyone else gets out. It is irrational for WordPress to continue acting like there isn’t an extractive entity in their midst.

[glenstein]

>If they want to play hardball about what’s required instead of acting generously, like Matt has done for decades, then they are getting their just deserts.

I can't help but notice that once it gets to the question of whether there's any actual authority to demand a licensing fee, the conversation stops being about what is or isn't legal, who is authorized to do what, considerations of proportionality or collateral damage or any of that, and just start slipping into this mode of speaking like mobsters from the 1920s. If that's the cadence you find yourself slipping into it might be an indicator of whether you're the good guy.

[hn_throwaway_99]

> Matt isn’t obligated to be nice to dick heads.

Well, in some sense, he is, at least as it relates to his leadership of WordPress Foundation. As a charity with a mission to support the WordPress community, his actions over the past week look like a singular attack on the community in order to benefit the for-profit Automattic.

This comment on a previous post puts it better than I could: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41661086